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FILE - The campus of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is seen in Atlanta, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

NEW YORK – When the White House fired Susan Monarez as director of the premier U.S. public health agency, it was clear to two of the scientific leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the political meddling would not end and it was time to quit.

"We knew ... if she leaves, we don’t have scientific leadership anymore, ” one of the officials, Dr. Debra Houry, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

“We were going to see if she was able to weather the storm. And when she was not, we were done,” said Houry, one of at least four CDC leaders who resigned this we

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